APPALACHIAN-LIFE-L Archives

From:
Subject: Re: [AppalLife] Old Christmas memories....
Date: Sun, 26 Dec 2004 20:25:18 -0600

Your story was very enjoyable, and reminded me of one time when my sister
went to great lengths to find out what we got for Christmas...I was about
12...she is 19 months older...She knew Mom had hid something in the boys
closet , but couldn't figure out how to get back there in their room
without Mama seeing her...She finally crawled over the partition in our
closet into their closet....Unfortunately she stepped on the stuff
getting down...Mama had got us two big girls a nice wall picture
each....On Christmas morning, Joyce very generously volunteered to take
the one with the cracked glass....Said Mama sure looked at her
strangely...She never did tell her the truth, but years later she told
me....Seems like a strange gift, but it WAS something we would keep
....and if we'd been careful it would have been a lifetime gift....I
still have a gold locket she gave me on an earlier Christmas....One
year...when I was about 14, I got a pair of panties.....We were pore
folks....BUT....

Every Christmas we had a freshly baked coconut cake to eat,[ Remember how
ladies used to save out the coconut milk and drizzle it on the cake
layers ? Makes me crave one just to think of it ! {I DO have a 'fresh
'coconut in there......Hmnnnn..} and maybe one of Mamas special
chocolate cakes, standing high on the cut glass cake stand she got for
selling Lee salve{ I believe it was...Input ?} when she was a girl....AND
we had boiled custard, fresh fruit salad, and a Stack Pie...In case you
never heard of that it is about 5 pies stacked up with a meringue pie on
top...It is cut like a layer cake....And nuts, candy and some fruit
bought with a miserly sum sent us by her rich sister....She USED to send
us 10 dollars a year, and Mama could buy a bushel of apples and a bushel
of oranges...then she started sending 5 dollars after the oldest of us 9
kids got up pretty good sized....Somehow they thought we could earn
money...Where, in the middle of the winter out in the country amongst
other pore folks ??? I griped about it one time and Mama said with a
smile " She doesn't have to send us anything ." People amused her...I
guess her sister wasn't as bad as her husband.,.....Strangely enough he
didn't manage to take it with him when he died...I'm sure he thought he
could....

Oh yes...We had a few fireworks to set off on Christmas morning ...EARLY
! The oldest boys would set off the few Roman candles and firecrackers
while the rest of us watched....from the window if it was very
cold....Those Roman candles shot the beautifully colored balls of fire
into the cold dark skies, and we thought it was marvelous...not ever
having seen real fireworks....I guess Mama did fine for a widder' woman
left with 8 youngens and one on the way .....Jeannie T...Awash in
memories....

PS: Daddy drove the wagon to Uncle Glen's one winter day and came back
with a battery powered radio he'd swapped for or bought.......How
wonderful it was ! Anyone got memories to share ?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Sun, 26 Dec 2004 15:14:54 -0500 "charles friedly"
<> writes:
> Carson, After reading your message, I had to stop and reminisce and of
> course cry a little at the memories it brought back.

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